Youngest French terror suspect 'was in class' during attack

The youngest of the three Charlie Hebdo terror suspects may have been in class before handing himself into police about 230km northeast of Paris where gunmen killed 12 people.

It is reported 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad has turned himself in to the Charleville-Mézieres police station in the Ardennes, nearly three hour's drive northeast of Paris.

After seeing his name being reported on social media, Mr Mourad approached the police on Wednesday.

It is now being reported by French media outlets that the young man is the brother-in-law of one of the suspected gunmen, Sherif Kouachi.

"Knowing he was being looked for, he presented himself at the police station," a police source said.

He was taken into police custody but no charges have been laid.

The arrest comes as a massive manhunt remains underway for two men, Sherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, the brothers suspected of carrying out the attack on the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The arrest comes as a massive manhunt remains underway for two men, Sherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, the brothers suspected of carrying out the attack on the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

French anti-terror police have launched a late-night raid in a northeastern city in a frantic manhunt for masked gunmen who shouted "Allahu akbar" as they killed 12 people in their Paris workplace.

Local television showed black-clad sharpshooters from the elite police unit in the streets of Reims, in France's Champagne region, late on Wednesday as a source close to the case said three men, two of them brothers, had been identified as suspects.